A communication system for connecting and controlling various devices through a screen that displays replicas of the various devices"" control interfaces to facilitate remote control of these various devices.
Systems have been developed to augment a human surgeon""s ability to perform surgery on a patient by providing the surgeon with an intra-operative image of anatomical structures within the patient""s body. Typically, these systems comprise a specialized form of camera or medical endoscope. Further, a class of these systems, which includes endoscopic and laparoscopic instruments, has reduced the invasive nature of many surgical procedures.
This class of systems has two salient characteristics in common: First, the surgeon using the system cannot directly manipulate the patient""s anatomy with his fingers, and second, the surgeon cannot directly observe what he is doing. Instead, the surgeon must rely on a variety of instruments that can be inserted through a trocar or through a working channel of an endoscope and is controlled from a remote location. Often the surgeon must rely on an assistant to adjust parameters of the endoscopic instruments that typically are located outside the sterile environment of the operating station.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,286 to Chatenever et al. (xe2x80x9cthe ""286 patentxe2x80x9d) discloses a system for increasing the surgeon""s control over numerous instruments, a bus connecting the instruments utilized in a surgical procedure has been utilized. Conceptually, the bus allows numerous devices having different network mastering and slave capabilities to communicate with one another in response to the signals generated by the surgeon during the procedure.
Furthermore, in a modular communication system for central and sterile operation of medical devices, such as a variety of instruments used in an endoscopic operation, each of them may be used in a time-limited manner that necessitates frequent connection of these instruments to a network. In addition, each of the medical devices within the network has to be controlled during an operation. Accordingly, it is imperative that these operations be conducted in a seamless manner without interrupting an on-going operation. As disclosed in a patent application Ser. No. 09/411,412 filed on Oct. 1, 1999 and entitled xe2x80x9cBus Extension For Multiple Masters,xe2x80x9d such seamless control over all stages of the endoscopic operation becomes particularly important when the network extends across a wide area. Both of the above mentioned applications are owned by the same Assignee as this application and are incorporated herein by reference.
The above disclosed communication systems provide reliable coordination between various instruments. A network master is capable of identifying and communicating with each device utilized in endoscopic operations as long as both master and slave devices use the same system management protocol.
Typically, the surgeon has to communicate instructions to a staff of assistants if either surgery configuration, or existing parameters need to be modified. In other words, if the surgeon needs to use a device that has not been connected to the bus or to change a parameter of an already engaged device, an assistant must be instructed to manipulate the master device or control interface of a control unit of the slave device to meet the surgeon""s desired adjustment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,688 (the ""688 patent) discloses a surgeon""s command and control system utilizing a control panel, which duplicates the essential elements of output power settings, and configuration displays found on the control unit of each individual device. Furthermore, the control panel provides the surgeon with a video image of the entirety of the particular surgical device""s control interface.
However, the system as disclosed in the ""688 patent does not disclose a system capable of automatically recognizing, incorporating and downloading interfaces of the surgical devices supplied by various manufacturers into a readily usable configuration having a video display of the control interfaces for the various devices.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a communication system capable of automatically recognizing and connecting various surgical devices.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a communication system including a touchscreen that is capable of displaying replicas of control interfaces of a variety of third party and first party surgical devices.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a communication system allowing the surgeon to remotely control first and third party devices employed in the surgery by manipulating functional areas of the replica control interfaces displayed on a touchscreen.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a communication system allowing the surgeon to provide a visual configuration of a network of first and third party devices on a touchscreen for a given surgery.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a communication system allowing the surgeon to select familiar surgical devices, having replicas of these devices displayed on a touchscreen.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a communication system capable of updating a storage device that contains protocols associated with third party devices and replicas of control interfaces of these devices.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a communication system that will automatically access and download control interfaces for surgical devices supplied by various manufacturers.
Accordingly, a communication system is provided that allows a surgeon to have direct command and control over various remotely located medical devices during an endoscopic surgery. Devices not specifically designed to operate with the communication system will be referred to herein as third party devices, whereas devices specifically designed to operate with the communication system will be referred to herein as, first party devices.
A universal communication system is adapted to seamlessly incorporate multiple endoscopic instruments into a network including first party and third party devices. Furthermore, the communication system is capable of connecting third party devices to the network and displaying replicas of their control interfaces on a touchscreen, which is located within the sterile environment and the surgeon""s reach during the actual course of the procedure. Therefore, a surgeon is able to control the interconnected devices by adjusting functional areas of the replica control interfaces displayed on the touchscreen.
The control interface of the interconnected device may comprise but is not limited to, for instance; a replica faceplate, or a display with a pointing device, or any other interactive means by which the device may be controlled.
To provide instant recognition of third party devices on the touchscreen, the communication system has a plurality of interface devices capable of interpreting and conveying information through the bus between the touchscreen, master equipment device and a variety of slave equipment devices. Specifically, the surgeon is given an opportunity to manipulate each of the equipment devices including both first party and third party devices from the touchscreen.
Also, the communication system is capable of periodically updating its database of both first and third party devices. Preferably, the system uses an Internet communication link allowing technical personnel to visit web sites of manufacturers to scan and store necessary information allowing the latest products to be readily incorporated in the communication system.
In one advantageous embodiment, a medical communication and control system is provided comprising: a touchscreen; a controller for the touchscreen, having a controller command protocol; a first remotely controllable surgical device, having a first command protocol, controllable by said touchscreen; a second remotely controllable surgical device, having a second command protocol, controllable by said touchscreen; an interface, connected between the touchscreen controller and the first remotely controllable surgical device and the second remotely controllable surgical device, for converting the controller command protocol to the first and second command protocols, and for transforming inputs received by the touchscreen into commands for controlling the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices; and an image, replicating a control interface particular to the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices, for display on the touchscreen to receive inputs and to display a status of the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices.
In another advantageous embodiment, a medical communication and control system is provided comprising: a touchscreen; a controller for the touchscreen; a controller command protocol for the touchscreen controller; a first and a second remotely controllable surgical device; a first and a second command protocol for control of a first and a second surgical device respectively; an interface, connected between the touchscreen controller and the remotely controllable surgical devices, for converting the controller command protocol to the first and second command protocols for transforming inputs received by the touchscreen into commands for controlling the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices; and an image, replicating control interfaces particular to the remotely controllable surgical devices for display on the touchscreen to receive inputs and to display a status of the remotely controllable surgical devices.
In still another advantageous embodiment, a medical communication and control system is provided comprising: a touchscreen; a controller for the touchscreen, having a controller command protocol; a first remotely controllable surgical device, having a first command protocol, controllable by said touchscreen; a second remotely controllable surgical device, having a second command protocol, controllable by said touchscreen; and an interface, connected between the touchscreen controller and the first remotely controllable surgical device and the second remotely controllable surgical device, for converting the controller command protocol to the first and second command protocols, and for transforming inputs received by the touchscreen into commands for controlling the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices.
In yet another advantageous embodiment, a method for operating a medical communication system is provided comprising the steps of: providing a touchscreen; providing a controller for the touchscreen, having a controller command protocol; providing a first remotely controllable surgical device, having a first command protocol; providing a second remotely controllable surgical device, having a second command protocol; providing an interface, connecting the touchscreen controller to the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices; providing an image replicating the control interface of the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices for display on the touchscreen and for receiving input commands; inputting commands to the touchscreen controller for controlling the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices respectively; converting the commands from the controller command protocol to the first and second command protocols respectively; and transmitting the converted commands to the first and second remotely controllable surgical devices respectively.
In still another advantageous embodiment, a method for operating a medical communication system comprising the steps of: providing a touchscreen; providing a controller for the touchscreen; providing a controller command protocol for the touchscreen controller; providing a first remotely controllable surgical device, having a first command protocol; providing a second remotely controllable surgical device, having a second command protocol; providing an interface, connected between the touchscreen controller and the first remotely controllable surgical device and the second remotely controllable surgical device; inputting commands to the touchscreen for controlling the first remotely controllable surgical device and the second remotely controllable surgical device; converting the commands from the controller command protocol to the first and second command protocols respectively; and transmitting the converted commands to the first remotely controllable surgical device and the second remotely controllable surgical device respectively.
In yet another advantageous embodiment, a medical communication and control system is provided comprising: a remotely controllable surgical device having a control interface which is particular to said remotely controllable surgical device; a touchscreen for displaying the control interface; a controller for controlling said remotely controllable surgical device; a database, accessible by said controller; and an image, stored on said database, replicating the control interface particular to said remotely controllable surgical device; wherein said controller upon connection of said remotely controllable surgical device queries said database for said image replicating the control interface particular to said remotely controllable surgical device for display on the touchscreen to receive inputs and to display a status of the remotely controllable surgical device, and wherein if said controller does not locate said image on said database, said controller automatically downloads and stores said image on said database for use with said touchscreen.
In still another advantageous embodiment, a medical communication and control system is provided comprising: a remotely controllable surgical device having a control interface which is particular to said remotely controllable surgical device; a touchscreen for displaying the control interface; a controller for controlling said remotely controllable surgical device; a database, accessible by said controller; and an image, stored on said database, replicating the particular control interface for said remotely controllable surgical device, and for display on the touchscreen to receive inputs and to display a status of the remotely controllable surgical device; wherein said controller upon connection of said remotely controllable surgical device queries said database for said image replicating the control interface particular to said remotely controllable surgical device for display on the touchscreen to receive inputs and to display a status of the remotely controllable surgical device, and wherein said controller periodically queries, downloads and saves updated images particular to various remotely controllable surgical devices to said database.
The invention and its particular features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description considered with reference to the accompanying drawings.